ABSS' Hadley named 2012 Civitan Woman of the Year

12/4/12 - Susan Balog presents Robyn Hadley with a plaque after announcing Hadley as the Burlington Civitan Club 2012 Woman of the Year.

Scott Muthersbaugh

By Michael D. Abernethy

Published: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 09:20 PM.

Taking the podium for a speech about
Alamance
County
youths’ post-high school plans, Robyn Hadley apologized for taking up the
Burlington
Civitan Club’s time on their important night.

The club has named a woman of the year each December since 1951. A list of past recipients was on the evening’s program and Hadley told the audience that she recalled many of those women and their influence on her life. She specifically mentioned 1963 recipient Sarah Rhyne, a dedicated patron of the arts in
Ala
mance
County
, who took Hadley to her first art museum as a child.

Now Hadley — executive director of
Ala
mance-
Burlington
School
s’ What’s After High School? Program — can count herself among them.

“I’m absolutely speechless. I know a number of them. They were educators and so passionate about what they did in the community. It’s humbling,” Hadley said after it was announced that she was the club’s 2012 Woman of the Year.

Hadley is a
Graham
High School
graduate, was a Morehead Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill and a
Rho
des Scholar, studying at
Oxford
University
. She began working with
Ala
mance
County
S
c
hool
s as a volunteer before founding the Yes I Can program in 2004 and What’s After High School? program here in 2005. She’s published a book about her counseling experiences, “Within View, Within Reach: Navigating the
Col
lege-Bound Journey,” and in February was named a Champion of Change by the White House and President Barack Obama.

The What’s After High School? program teaches students how to plan and apply for college, organizes college campus visits and works to reach children as early as third grade about the opportunities available for college and careers.

Taking the podium for a speech about AlamanceCounty youths’ post-high school plans, Robyn Hadley apologized for taking up the Burlington Civitan Club’s time on their important night.

The club has named a woman of the year each December since 1951. A list of past recipients was on the evening’s program and Hadley told the audience that she recalled many of those women and their influence on her life. She specifically mentioned 1963 recipient Sarah Rhyne, a dedicated patron of the arts in AlamanceCounty, who took Hadley to her first art museum as a child.

Now Hadley — executive director of Alamance-BurlingtonSchools’ What’s After High School? Program — can count herself among them.

“I’m absolutely speechless. I know a number of them. They were educators and so passionate about what they did in the community. It’s humbling,” Hadley said after it was announced that she was the club’s 2012 Woman of the Year.

Hadley is a GrahamHigh School graduate, was a Morehead Scholar at UNC-Chapel Hill and a Rhodes Scholar, studying at OxfordUniversity. She began working with AlamanceCountySchools as a volunteer before founding the Yes I Can program in 2004 and What’s After High School? program here in 2005. She’s published a book about her counseling experiences, “Within View, Within Reach: Navigating the College-Bound Journey,” and in February was named a Champion of Change by the White House and President Barack Obama.

The What’s After High School? program teaches students how to plan and apply for college, organizes college campus visits and works to reach children as early as third grade about the opportunities available for college and careers.

“We purposely didn’t put ‘college’ in the (program) title because that word still scares some people,” Hadley said. “We have a lot of students out there who don’t have all that much support waiting in the wings. We have to work awfully hard in the school system … to make sure we’re doing the best possible job to make sure every student in AlamanceCountygets every penny of financial aid available to them.

“We want to make sure every child and parent gets information about how to get to and through college and how to prepare for it.”

Civitan member Steven Cann presented the award Tuesday night. He also nominated Hadley, after her visit with a group at the First Reformed United Church of Christ in 2009 inspired church members to continue sponsoring college visits for Alamance-Burlington students.

Those trips — coordinated through individual schools and with students and faculty on campus — are life-changing for young students, Cann said. Sometimes the groups sing with college choirs, sometimes they tour science labs or spend time in huge university libraries, inspiring “real hope and individual dreams that they could see clearly,” Cann said.

“Last year, they went to N.C. A&T and extracted DNA from a strawberry. For a group of at-risk young men, it makes it real. We talk to them after and they know: They are going to college,” Cann said. “What doe s a 10-year-old or 12-year-old have to look forward to in college? Now they can see it.”